Subwoofer level way to low !!

[Mazinger]

Hello, I bought the Avia guide for HT to calibrate my audio, when I get to the speakers level I noticed that the level in the subwoofer is about 20db lower that the other speakers, the funny thing is I'm overall satisfied with the subwoofer performance when watching movies and increasing the gain in the sub would be too much...any clue on why this is happening?? aren't all speakers supposed to read the same level???... I get the same reading when calibrating the audio on my multichannel output ( lossless ) and the opticall ( lossy ) DVD inputs.
I already have the sub level at +10 and adjusted the gain to compesate when playing blu rays through the multichannel input, but I'm still confused why this is happening...

Mazinger

[MrBoylan]

Hello, I bought the Avia guide for HT to calibrate my audio, when I get to the speakers level I noticed that the level in the subwoofer is about 20db lower that the other speakers, the funny thing is I'm overall satisfied with the subwoofer performance when watching movies and increasing the gain in the sub would be too much...any clue on why this is happening?? aren't all speakers supposed to read the same level???... I get the same reading when calibrating the audio on my multichannel output ( lossless ) and the opticall ( lossy ) DVD inputs.
I already have the sub level at +10 and adjusted the gain to compesate when playing blu rays through the multichannel input, but I'm still confused why this is happening...

Mazinger

Hey, sorry for the delay. This one slipped through the cracks. So remind me what and how you're connecting again? Is it a Panasonic BD85 Blu-ray player connected to a Yamaha receiver with multi-channel inputs? There was a change in the player's handling of bass management between the BD80 and the BD85. In the BD80, the subwoofer level on the analog outputs is down 10 dB when all speakers are set to large. Normally you compensate for this in the receiver and/or in the subwoofer's gain control. Beehavior is the same on the BD85.

When any of the speakers are set to small in the player, this is where the BD80 and BD85 differ. On the BD80, it's still down 10 dB. On the BD85, it's down an additional 5 dB (-15 dB total) to "make room" for the other bass information redirected from the other channels. So you'll actually have to make up for 15 dB of loss in the receiver or subwoofer gain control in order to get the bass where it should be.

Setting up a sub can be really tricky because of the way bass frequencies interact with themselves and with the room itself. If you have an untreated room, you may have awesome bass performance in one part of the room, then move your ears (or the microphone) 2 feet in one direction and the bass disappears in the null - basically in the section of the room, bass frequencies may bounce off a wall or ceiling and cancel each other out, but only in that spot! So if you are positioning the SPL meter or microphone somewhere slightly different than where your ears are, then what you measure may not match what you hear.

If you haven't read it already, take a look at our guide to setting up subwoofers. In some rooms the best solution is actually to have more than one sub. In a sense, this gets twice as tricky to set-up, but in this case you can usually get a smoother overall frequency response across different locations in the room.

Set Up a Subwoofer for Home Theater

-CB

[Mazinger]

Thanks for your reply, I have an old Pioneer vsx-811s and a Panasonic BD85 hooked up through multichannel outputs, I'm amazed how well my old receiver plays HD sound, it's also the Panasonic doing a terrific job.
I have my speakers set SMALL in the BD85, I would need to increase the gain control in the sub too much for the SPL meter to read the same level on all speakers ( at my sweet spot), I tried that and then played a movie and the sub was playing way too loud.... so I re adjusted it, very happy with the sound, I was just curious....

Thanks again

Mazinger

[MrBoylan]

Thanks for your reply, I have an old Pioneer vsx-811s and a Panasonic BD85 hooked up through multichannel outputs, I'm amazed how well my old receiver plays HD sound, it's also the Panasonic doing a terrific job.
I have my speakers set SMALL in the BD85, I would need to increase the gain control in the sub too much for the SPL meter to read the same level on all speakers ( at my sweet spot), I tried that and then played a movie and the sub was playing way too loud.... so I re adjusted it, very happy with the sound, I was just curious....

Thanks again

Mazinger

Well the other thing to keep in mind is that the mics built into most inexpensive SPL meters are not necessarily 100% accurate. They may not be as sensitive as your ears are at detecting the lowest bass frequencies. So always use your ears as your guide. After all, the system is there to make you happy, not your SPL meter.

Enjoy!

-Chris